Breaking the Ice
by Lucinda
Summary: AU.  Faith meets a group of students from a local private school  Xavier's.  One in particular makes an impression.  Shortfic.
1. Breaking the Ice

Breaking the Ice  
  
author: Lucinda  
  
rating: pg13  
  
main character: Faith  
  
pairing: Faith/Bobby(Iceman)  
  
disclaimer; I hold no legal rights to Faith or anyone from X-Men the movie.  
  
distribution: Wic, Twisting the Hellmouth, anyone else ask.  
  
note: AU for Faith from the start - she is a Slayer, but never went to Sunnydale. Kakistos who? Pre X-Men the Movie.  
  
  
  
  
  
Faith Connelly sighed, watching as the faded blue frisbee spun in circles on her fingertip. She'd come to the park, hoping to just have some time to relax, to try to remember what a normal life felt like. One that didn't have the fate of the world resting on her shoulders, where she didn't know about vampires and demons. Day-dreaming about a life where she wasn't the Slayer. Maybe she should just try to imagine a normal life with a loving mom and dad while she was at it? Instead, she was the Slayer, adopted by her Watcher Anastasia Kendrick after her mom had died in a car accident on the way home from a night waiting tables at a nearby bar.  
  
She'd never had a chance at normal.  
  
There were a group of kids her age over by the pond, laughing and chasing their own frisbee. One of them had on a shirt proclaiming 'Xavier's School for the...'. Faith had heard of that place, a private academy started by one of the local eccentrically wealthy. But somehow, she hadn't pictured them as regular kids, out playing frisbee and throwing leaves at each other.  
  
The red frisbee they were playing with got tossed a bit higher, and flew over the head of the blond girl, headed right for Faith. She reached up with her other hand, catching and tossing it back without dropping the blue one. No reason to let herself get smacked in the face by a bit of flying plastic, after all.  
  
When the brown haired guy standing at the edge of the water sent the red frisbee back at Faith, she knew that it had to be deliberate. She'd been invited into the game. The idea made her smile, and she caught the red frisbee, sending it towards the blond who'd missed it earlier, and the blue one towards a dark haired girl who was blowing big pink bubbles with her gum. Soon, there were three frisbees in the air, and Faith was having the most fun that she could remember in years. It probably wouldn't last, but for now? She was going to have fun. And make sure these Xavier's people had to work a little to keep up.  
  
It was close to two hours later, and the brown haired guy who'd first deliberately thrown the frisbee towards her was walking closer, the faded blue frisbee in one hand. He was smiling, forehead glistening with sweat. "Hey. I think this one was yours? I'm Bobby."  
  
Why did she feel so shy all of a sudden? Faith had the sinking suspicion that she was blushing. She reached out, her fingers coming to rest on the frisbee, almost touching his. Somehow, the air around Bobby felt less hot, not quite as humid as the air around her. "Yeah. I'm Faith."  
  
"We were going to head over for a bit of ice cream, want to go with?" His smile this time looked a little more personal, a little more embarrassed.  
  
She was being asked to go somewhere with him and his group of friends... either they were a lot nicer than most private school kids, or they were planning something petty and cruel... Hope warred with caution, and she nodded. "Sure, ice cream sounds good. Lead on, Bobby."  
  
To her delight, she found out that the closest to cruelty was a pair of the girls teasing Bobby about having a crush on her . The bubble gum girl turned out to be named Jubilee, with the blond girl named Theresa, who oddly never seemed to speak over a whisper and had an Irish accent. It seemed too perfect. While she wasn't entirely certain if they all liked her, nobody was being particularly mean or making a show of excluding her. They really did seem like normal people, only maybe a bit nicer than most.  
  
That was when she saw the little fiery goblin stalking towards Bobby's banana split. She couldn't quite keep herself from staring. There was nothing like that in any of Ana's books, so what was it? Bobby yanked his ice cream away, and promptly threw a snowball at a grinning guy named John. Faith felt a bit confused at that, it was the middle of August, and ninety degrees, where had Bobby gotten a snowball?  
  
Leaning over towards Theresa, she whispered the question "Does this happen with those two a lot?"  
  
Smiling, Theresa nodded. "Maybe you can distract Bobby before we get into trouble again?"  
  
Faith looked at Bobby, thinking that he was pretty cute, and nice. She could distract him, alright... Moving, she stood right behind him, tapping one shoulder before speaking in a sort of sweet voice. "Oh Bobby?"  
  
Bobby turned around, and Faith kissed him. Actually grabbed his shirt, pulled him close, and planed one right on his lips. It didn't take long before Bobby was kissing back.  
  
"wow... much better than trying to get snow down John's back." Bobby looked a little dazed, and then they became aware of the chuckles and soft clapping from the tables of the rest of the Xavier's bunch.  
  
Bobby and Faith both blushed, and he tried to sink into his seat. Faith grabbed him again, leaning in to whisper into his ear. "Want to go out sometime?"  
  
"Oh yeah." He looked delighted.  
  
Maybe they weren't exactly normal, but who was she to throw stones? Frisbees were more fun than rocks any day. And maybe this was close enough to normal, maybe with their not quite normal, they would be able to accept her own differences. But one thing that Faith was certain of – she was looking forward to getting to know more about Bobby.  
  
End Breaking the Ice. 


	2. Filling the Cracks

author: Lucinda

nothing worse than the X-Men movies or early BtVS.

main characters: Faith, Bobby Drake

disclaimer: If you recognize them, then I didn't create them.

distribution: Twisting, Mental Wanderings, Wic - or if you ask.

notes: Twisting's FfA pairing #244, sequel to Breaking the Ice. AU in that Faith never went to Sunnydale, there was no Kakistos.

Faith scowled as she tied the laces of her boot. Ana didn't want her ending too much time with the Xavier's kids, afraid that either they'd make her careless with her slaying, or become pawns that her enemies could use against her. She'd actually forbidden Faith to go on a date with Bobby. Forbidden. What did she think this was, the middle ages or something?

"You may be supposed to teach me, Ana, but you don't own me." Faith whispered angrily. "Besides, I'm a Slayer, live hard, die soon and in great pain, I might as well get a few happy moments in there before something kills me."

Faith tucked a stake into the little loop in her right sleeve, and a slender knife up the left, and pulled her jacket onto her shoulders. Opening the window, she looked outside, making certain that nobody would see her. Then, she crawled out, for a moment perching on the windowsill. It was a decent enough view, but she would be late if she didn't hurry. Casually, she jumped, flipping once in the air before lancing on her feet, knees flexed to absorb the shock.

"Takes more than a third floor window to keep a Slayer inside." She muttered, and then started running down the street. She only had twenty minutes to get to the theater.

She got there just as Bobby and some of his friends were getting out of a van. Waving, she jogged over, glad that she'd actually made it in time. "Hey Bobby, Theresa, Kitty, Peter. I made it."

"Faith!" Bobby grinned, and then he gave her a big hug. "You're looking a bit flushed, did you have to sneak out after all?"

"Yeah, well, I'm here now, so what's the problem?" Faith shrugged, not wanting them to think too hard about her situation. They didn't know that she was the Slayer, and they were probably safer that way.

Leaning over, Bobby kissed her nose. "Nothing at all."

Faith snuggled against Bobby, feeling content as they went into the theater. She paid for her ticket, and they went into a theater to watch some comedy about a bunch of kids at a summer camp, where their counselors have decided to skip out and go to Vegas, leaving the kids to fend for themselves.

"So, how good do you think the movie will be?" Bobby whispered, placing a small lump of ice on the top of her head. "You look like you could use a bit of cooling down."

"Who cares about the movie? I'm here to spend me with you." She leaned closer, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Ack!" Bobby squirmed as the ice cube slid from her hair to vanish down the back of his shirt. "Wet, wet..."

Faith just chuckled. Sometimes, life was pretty good.

Eventually, the movie ended, and as the credits rolled up the screen, Faith concluded that it hadn't seemed too bad. Stretching, she followed Bobby out of the theater.

"Ohh, the movie was shorter than we expected. Our ride won't be here to pick us up for another half hour at least." Kitty groaned, looking at her watch. "Assuming that Scott and Jean don't end up with something coming up and distracting them and someone actually gets here when they're supposed to."

"More time to just hang out then." Bobby grinned, and slipped his arm around Faith's waist. "We can just loiter at the patio of the restaurant next door. I mean, it's closed, but we can sit down."

"Sounds good to me." Faith grinned, and as everyone else murmured agreement, they made their way over, vaulting the low fence easily enough. They settled around a couple tables, pulling them closer together so they could just chat about life, the universe, movies, and how the real world could be miserable.

It wasn't until she felt the vampires approaching that Faith realized that the patio was set back and the shadows deep enough that it could be dangerous. The vamps probably were figuring that they were takeout, just walk up and grab some. With a sigh, she rubbed at her temple. "Was it too much to ask for the night off?"

"Look, someone ordered us delivery." The joke might have been funny months ago, the first time that Faith had heard it from a vamp.

Faith rolled her eyes before looking at her friends. "Okay, we're about to be attacked by the people looming behind us. They're vampires, which are real, and they want to suck your blood and kill you. Naturally, we don't like this plan. More answers later."

One of the vampires lunged towards Faith, snarling at her. He had the most crooked fangs that she'd ever seen, and would have been pretty unremarkable without the vamp face. With a mental farewell wave to her pleasant evening, Faith countered by swinging one of the iron chairs up to slam into his face. She wasn't the only one who winced at the crunch of bones, and she threw the chair at another vamp while she grabbed at the stake in her sleeve.

Having just staked Crooked Teeth, she glanced to see how everyone else was doing, and to pick her next target. Peter looked different, almost shiny, and he was holding his own in a fistfight against two of the vamps. Kitty was holding Theresa, and one of the vamps kept trying to grab them, but his hand was just going right through the girls. She moved towards the vamp threatening Bobby, who was throwing icicles at him in a not so effective way to try to slow the vamp down. She tapped the vamps shoulder, slamming the stake into his chest when he turned around.

"Should he have done that?" Bobby whispered, wide eyed.

Faith grinned, and went after the one still trying to grab the girls, and just staked him from behind. "Remind me to ask how that's working in a few minutes. Pete, need a hand?"

"I am holding them, but they seem very persistent." He slammed his fist into one vamp, letting him double over in pain as he turned to block a kick from the other, who seemed to know a little bit of martial arts. "They are getting annoying."

Faith laughed, and staked the doubled over vamp, and then managed to catch the other one while Pete had him busy. Then, she took a good look at Pete and blinked. "You look all metal. How?"

"We're mutants." Bobby spoke softly, and moved towards her slowly. "All of us are, and we can do different things. Things that most people can't do. I can make ice, but snow's easier. Kitty can do this phasing thing, it sort of turns her into a ghost."

"I can explain it with physics, but I can also phase someone else if I'm holding them." Kitty said, picking her purse up from the table. "I didn't think that we wanted them to get a good grip on us. Pete can turn into metal, we think it's some sort of steel alloy."

"So, vampires?" Pete said, and there was a sort of ripple over his body, leaving him normal flesh once more. "I thought that they were only stories."

"No, they're real. So are demons, and magic, and prophecies." Faith grumbled, sitting back down at one of the tables. "Short version, there are really monsters, and there's one girl in all the world who's destiny sucks enough to be the one chosen to fight them. That's me."

"How? I mean, it's just not fair to send someone our age out against monsters." Bobby asked, reaching towards her.

Faith reached out, grasping her hand in his. "I'm not suddenly going to be afraid of you for being different. When a person becomes a Slayer, we get a few things to help. Stronger, faster, and Slayers heal faster than a normal human."

"How long will you be a Slayer?" Theresa whispered.

"Until I'm not fast enough, and some nasty monster kills me. Or I could get hit by a bus. Once someone becomes a Slayer, it's for life." Faith glanced at Theresa, and then looked at Bobby, hoping that they could understand. "Generally, it's a short life."

"So, you're okay with this?" Bobby asked, looking hopeful.

"I don't have a choice about being the Slayer, so it doesn't matter if I like it or not." Faith grumbled. "But if you mean, am I okay with you being mutants? That's fine. Maybe even a good thing. You won't be quite as helpless if some big nasty decides the best way to throw me off my game is to go after my friends."

"We aren't that helpless." Theresa whispered. "If need be, we can push back."

"So, Bobby can make snowballs, Pete turns into metal, Kitty's a living ghost, what do you do, Theresa?" Faith asked.

"I can scream." The words were soft, and there was something odd in her eyes. "And if I do, things happen. Bad things."

"You've heard about screaming loud enough to wake the dead?" Kitty offered. "Theresa can scream as loud as a jet engine. There were some tests to compare. But the downside is that there's no way that we wouldn't get a lot of attention of she did."

"Probably from people who don't like mutants." Bobby grumbled.

"Yeah, well I guess we just need to stick together then, don't we?" Faith leaned closer, kissing him. "I'm not giving up on things just because of this."

"Great." Bobby smiled, arms wrapping around her.

A flashlight shone on them, and there was the sound of someone clearing their throat. Half smothered amusement filled Scott's voice as he asked, "Do I want to know what happened?"

"Everything's fine now, Mr. Summers." Bobby said.

Faith grinned at him. "Yeah, five by five."

End Filling the Cracks.


End file.
